Multicentric Castleman''s disease associated with renal amyloidosis and pure red cell aplasia

Researchers have recently proven the ability of computer simulation to predict the behaviour of cerebral aneurysms. Accurately simulating the flow of blood within the aneurysm helps researchers to predict the growth pattern of the aneurysm and the danger of rupturing. As this tool is further developed into a practical diagnostic tool, it is expected to dramatically improve the ability of surgeons to weigh the results of alternate treatment methods. The simulation method used, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), provides much more information than current diagnostic tools, including particularly shear stress levels at various stages of the cardiac cycle, which help to pinpoint areas of aneurysm formation and growth.     

Interaction of rat lin-10 with brain-enriched F-actin-binding protein, neurabin-II/spinophilin

We have recently isolated a rat homologue of the Caenorrhabditis elegans lin-10 product. Although rat lin-10 is expressed in the cytosol and membrane fractions of various tissues, it is distributed only in the membrane fraction in brain where it is enriched in the synaptic plasma membrane and postsynaptic density fractions. We have isolated here a rat lin-10-interacting protein from rat brain and identified it to be neurabin-II/spinophilin, which has recently been isolated as a protein interacting with protein phosphatase I and F-actin. Neurabin-II/spinophilin is ubiquitously expressed but enriched in brain, especially in the synaptic plasma membrane and postsynaptic density fractions. We discuss the physiological significance of the interaction of rat lin-10 with neurabin-II/spinophilin.     

Synthesis and biological activities of indolactone-V, the lactone analogue of the tumor promoter (-)-indolactam-V

The tumor promoter (-)-indolactam-V (1) exists in two stable conformers (twist and sofa) due to isomerization of the amide group. Indolactone-V (2), the lactone analogue of 1, has been synthesized to investigate the effects of the amide group on its conformation and biological activities. Indolactone-V (2) existed only as the inactive sofa-like conformer, indicating that the amide group of 1 plays a critical role in formation of the active twist conformation.     

A T‐LCLC type immittance converter

“Immittance converter” is short for “impedance–admittance converter.” The immittance converter has an input impedance that is proportional to the admittance of the load connected across output terminals. In this converter, the output current is proportional to the input voltage and the input current is proportional to the output voltage. Consequently, it converts a constant voltage source into a constant current source and a constant current source into a constant voltage source. It is well known that the quarter‐wavelength transmission line shows immittance conversion characteristics. However, it has very long line length for the switching frequency, and is not suitable for power electronics application. Thus, we proposed immittance converters that consist of lumped elements L, C and show improved immittance conversion characteristics at a resonant frequency. In this paper, we propose a T‐LCLC‐type immittance converter, which has the transitive configuration and both advantages of T‐LCL‐ and π‐CLC‐type immittance converters. We show voltage–current transformation characteristics and frequency characteristics and efficiency characteristics of the T‐LCLC immittance converter. These characteristics were determined analytically and experimentally. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 142(3): 57–63, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10095     

Hebbian learning rule restraining catastrophic forgetting in pulse neural network

In this paper, a Hebbian learning rule restraining “catastrophic forgetting” is proposed on a pulsed neural network (PNN) with leaky integrate‐and‐fire neurons. The strong point of this learning rule is that a learning of new pattern does not destroy past ones, and that an efficient use of synapses is enabled. First, in order to consider the function of the learning rule, a fundamental experiment is carried out. Next, to compare the performance between the proposed learning rule and conventional ones on the application, simulation experiments are examined using autonomous behavior robots which are forced to learn concurrently two different environments. The results of the experiments show that the proposed learning rule clearly restrains “catastrophic forgetting” and enables working of more efficient than conventional PNN learning. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 151(3): 50–60, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10343     

Saturation measurements on electron spin resonance signals in amorphous silicon films

The dependence of the electron spin resonance signal intensity on the microwave magnetic field was investigated for amorphous silicon prepared by r.f. sputtering. The spin-lattice and the spin relaxation times T₁ and T₂ were determined by a new saturation method. As a result it is suggested that the electron spin resonance linewidth is determined by g-factor anisotropy, that T₂ is 10–100 times longer than the T¹₂ determined from the linewidth, that T₁ for samples annealed at below about 250°C is proportional to T^-1.9 and that most of the spins for samples annealed at above 400°C are probably due to dangling bonds in amorphous regions surrounding crystallites newly produced in the process of crystallization.     

Automatic welding of pipeline in Japan: Part 2—The development of a method for the branch pipe joint in ship pipeline

The pipelines used in a ship amount to tens of thousands of metres per ship, and so automatic welding of the pipelines has been widely applied from the viewpoint of saving labour. In most cases the automatic welding process has been used for the welding of butt-joints which can be applied to the pipes in rotary motion, and it has also been used for fillet-welding of the connection between flange and piping. In the butt-welding of fixed pipings, automatic welding processes are now being partly used for position welding but up to the present time automatic welding has seldom been applied to the various types of branch pipe joints in which the welded lines form three-dimensional curves.In recent years, great progress has been made in the technique of constructing steel pipe structures and in the development of practical gas cutting processes to prepare the curves needed for the various welded joints used in piping. This paper deals with various conditions and performance requirements needed for automatic welding, such as the selection of shapes of prepared edges of pipings to be welded, the control of welding positions, the control of welding torches in operation, and the solution and control of other production variables.     

Sludge depositions in a long tube-high flow MSF test plant

During the operation of a multistage flash (MSF) evaporation plant, a rather rapid decrease was observed in the economy ratio of the plant when the dissolved oxygen (DO) content of the circulating brine was at a high level. This phenomenon was brought about by the reduction of heat transfer coefficients of condenser tubes due to sludge formation on the inside tube surface by the co-precipitation of ferric hydrous oxide with silica, alumina, and organic materials. The chemical analysis of the sludge and circulating brine showed a close relationship to DO values in the brine, the concentration of iron in the sludge, and the decreasing value of the heat transfer coefficient. The lowering of DO was found very effective for avoiding the sludge trouble.